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Topic: Monster (Read 122512 times)

Glad to see you are still on the courts! :applause:Ah yes family tennis. My son just finished his freshman yr of high school. He played 2nd doubles on the VARSITY! Ok, so what if they were average at best. But since the season ended, I have been instructing him like crazy. We are at the cts 5 days a week and I am feeding him a bazillion balls and instructing him on proper technique/strategy/etc. He is a hard worker and a good listener but we have MILES to go! My own game is obviously suffering since I now play myself maybe once a week. Scott and I got out once last week. My game is sooo bad but it is worth it watching Anthonydster develop!

I hope that along with the Bazillion balls that yous two are having some major fun on court! That's what it's all about for the vast majority of us hackers. Enjoy all those special times together and if T-Dog improves along the way, that's just an added bonus. Word to the wise.

Glad to see you are still on the courts! :applause:Ah yes family tennis. My son just finished his freshman yr of high school. He played 2nd doubles on the VARSITY! Ok, so what if they were average at best. But since the season ended, I have been instructing him like crazy. We are at the cts 5 days a week and I am feeding him a bazillion balls and instructing him on proper technique/strategy/etc. He is a hard worker and a good listener but we have MILES to go! My own game is obviously suffering since I now play myself maybe once a week. Scott and I got out once last week. My game is sooo bad but it is worth it watching Anthonydster develop!

I hope that along with the Bazillion balls that yous two are having some major fun on court! That's what it's all about for the vast majority of us hackers. Enjoy all those special times together and if T-Dog improves along the way, that's just an added bonus. Word to the wise.

Hopefully he doesn't share you're handicap of being wrong-handed!

Sadly he is a righty . Maybe I will "Uncle Tony" him and force him from the dark side. A couple of things he has inherited are (1) temper---dang his mother anyway (2) height ---6'2" at 15 yrs old. I hope we can work that into the serving equation. He tries VERY hard and he listens well. I have had several peeps tell me that you cannot teach your own kid; you need to let someone else teach him, but he couldn't be a better student for me

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I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

I struggled a bit with teaching my youngest as her interest was mostly social and I couldn't comprehend that at the time. Especially while participating on a high school team.

Glad to hear it's working out for you. Keep a sharp eye out though as fostering the best father / son relationship is the penultimate priority!

Got out for a quick training session today with Grasshopper.I've made a commitment to get on court at least once a week for the next 12 weeks prior to the local city tourney. The goal is to rekindle my interest in the game without punishing my body.

10 min. warmup of mini tennis hitting 100 consequtive with no misses.25 volleys per wing with no misses "face to face" at the net.Four games of serve & approach/return & approach crosscourt to 10 (I won three!) to simulate the first 3 shots of most doubles points.2 games to 7 of same with low shots played cross court and high balls put away (I won as both server and returner).Started turning up the heat on my serve and searching for that long lost muscle memory with mediocre success. Popped 3 aces on Grasshopper which is no small feat. He punished most serves I hit short with scorching low returns off both wings. Apparently I taught him too well......

I hit for an hour on Wednesday night.Worked on serve accuracy and approach and keeping ROS low and cross-court.I find it interesting that the more I focus on a specific aspect of a shot, the more I realize how much room for improvement I have..... Good news was I was able to beat Grasshopper in 90% of the simuls we played.Bad news is, I thought that was pretty good. Oooops there I go having expectations already! Such is the mindset of a competitor.

Got to play some social dubs with The Family at a beautiful resort in the Green Mountains of VT a few weekends ago. Was graced with the presence of my youngster daughter on court. We reigned supreme against superior/younger athletes in round robin play.

Ventured onto a competitive badminton court on Thursday eve.Twas a rude awakening. I figured it was an after work refreshment event so I brought a rack of me favorite frostys. Bad move.These kids were serious.Took awhile getting used to the formal rules which are quite different than the 'backyard rules' I've always played by. 2nd game was better than the first. My partner carried us to victory on some excellent defense and smashing. My role of course was to plug up the middle with my size. Actually, I took the role of set up man and that worked out fine. Can't wait to get the call to sub in next week.

And lo, on the Friday of Black, I ventured forth!Laughing in the face of falling temps, spitting snow, and gusty winds, for nearly 3 hours we battled.In the end, there can be only One (team) and yea it was ours.

Fun time knocking about with the family guys again.Lots of laughs and many great rallies despite the low skill level of all involved.Good to hear some of yous other fellas are still playing outside as well.

After a family outing on Easter (yes it was chilly!), have finally returned to the courts in preparation for next weeks memorial charity tourney. Got to play on Har Tru for the first time at a new private indoor facility 3 minutes from my house!!! Partnered with my disciple Grasshopper to take out a pair of 4.0 wannabees with monster serves & FH's but little else to offer. It was a pretty easy go of it for us as we communicated well, moved together and played high percentage tennis. Was a bit tough being tight to the net and having some of those screaming FH's dipping with severe top, but we both managed well. I struggled to return serve consistently as one feller has been clocked at over 110mph. Problem is, he has no clue where it's going. I stuck with the kicker 90% of the time which allowed my fat ass to roll a few feet over the baseline before they returned. Used the slice to keep 'em honest and was rewarded with 3 aces. Not bad for a rusty ole fat fart with bum knees and a broken arm!!!

After a family outing on Easter (yes it was chilly!), have finally returned to the courts in preparation for next weeks memorial charity tourney. Got to play on Har Tru for the first time at a new private indoor facility 3 minutes from my house!!! Partnered with my disciple Grasshopper to take out a pair of 4.0 wannabees with monster serves & FH's but little else to offer. It was a pretty easy go of it for us as we communicated well, moved together and played high percentage tennis. Was a bit tough being tight to the net and having some of those screaming FH's dipping with severe top, but we both managed well. I struggled to return serve consistently as one feller has been clocked at over 110mph. Problem is, he has no clue where it's going. I stuck with the kicker 90% of the time which allowed my fat ass to roll a few feet over the baseline before they returned. Used the slice to keep 'em honest and was rewarded with 3 aces. Not bad for a rusty ole fat fart with bum knees and a broken arm!!!

Did I tell you how nice this court was?

Animal!

Logged

I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

After a family outing on Easter (yes it was chilly!), have finally returned to the courts in preparation for next weeks memorial charity tourney. Got to play on Har Tru for the first time at a new private indoor facility 3 minutes from my house!!! Partnered with my disciple Grasshopper to take out a pair of 4.0 wannabees with monster serves & FH's but little else to offer. It was a pretty easy go of it for us as we communicated well, moved together and played high percentage tennis. Was a bit tough being tight to the net and having some of those screaming FH's dipping with severe top, but we both managed well. I struggled to return serve consistently as one feller has been clocked at over 110mph. Problem is, he has no clue where it's going. I stuck with the kicker 90% of the time which allowed my fat ass to roll a few feet over the baseline before they returned. Used the slice to keep 'em honest and was rewarded with 3 aces. Not bad for a rusty ole fat fart with bum knees and a broken arm!!!

Did I tell you how nice this court was?

Animal!

Indeed!As much as I try to play nice, there's a hunger within like a starving wolverine.

I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

A little tight on the wings, so a smart slicer can create problems for returners attempting to stay behind the baseline.

Did I mention it was 3 minutes from me house? Now I've just got to develop a few more contacts who work there.It's a fitness facility for a local company.Hilarious, because they just put up a huge,brand spankin' new YMCA a 1/4 mile away.

A little tight on the wings, so a smart slicer can create problems for returners attempting to stay behind the baseline.

Did I mention it was 3 minutes from me house? Now I've just got to develop a few more contacts who work there.It's a fitness facility for a local company.Hilarious, because they just put up a huge,brand spankin' new YMCA a 1/4 mile away.

Did I mention how comfortable it was to play on Har Tru?

The location for my Friday game has Har Tru indoors and outdoors. I too like to create problems of that sort with a little bit of slice .

Only drawback is that the stuff can get onto carpets and that means trouble .

Yes indeed, the slice can be extremely effective.Used in combination with my kicker, I didn't a serve over 80mph.My shoulder has been thanking me all week.

In addition to a heavy brush mat at the door, there was a special tray with water for additional rinsing/cleaning of sneakers. From there I removed my shoes and donned my camo Crocs and exited in true redneck style!

I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

Just returned from memorial tourney.Got to play 2 matches against completely contrasting teams.#1 was a father-son combo (son in 8th grade). They belonged in the B Group. We cruised, but I was uncomfortable with Grasshopper's willingness to stay back and hit cross court rally shots. This, after we've talked and worked on it several times. Oh well.#2 team was local club pro (getting older) and local youngster trying to make it on the pro circuit in Brazil. They tuned us up right proper with minimal effort. Still, I felt better about this match than trying to play pattycake with the other guys. Once again, Grasshopper failed to consistently move forward after both serves and returns. Really put me off. Enjoyed a nice lunch after and got to visit with a couple dozen of me old tennis buds whom I haven't seen in some time.Nice to see 5-10 teams of local high school kids.

On a side note, I've made a commitment for the summer to practice with Grasshopper every other week and begin some sort of fitness routine to improve my health and tennis. All this in prep for the city tourney in mid Sept. We'll see how that pans out.